6 IT bodies form Hong Kong Cloud Standards Alliance
By Carol Ko 12-Apr-2012
Inauguration of the Hong Kong Cloud Standards Alliance
The Hong Kong Cloud Standards Alliance was formed in Hong Kong today to set standards and best practices of cloud computing including interoperability, legal framework and government policies, and to foster regional cooperation with mainland China.
This is the first cloud standards alliance formed by local ICT bodies in Hong Kong. The six founding members were: Hong Kong Computer Society, Communications Association of Hong Kong (CAHK), ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter, Hong Kong Software Industry Association (HKSiA), Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (Hong Kong Science Parks), and Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company (Cyberport).
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"There is no single standard for cloud computing."
-- Dr CK Wong, Hong Kong Computer Society |
"This is an alliance, not a trade association. The companies' [service providers'] participation in the Alliance should take place through joining [the relevant] industry bodies, through which they can express their views. This is also a more scientific and fairer arrangement to enable the vendors' participation," Dr CK Wong explained the exclusion of service providers. Wong is an honorary adviser of Hong Kong Computer Society (HKCS).
No single standard
"The establishment of Hong Kong Cloud Standards Alliance helps develop the best and the most appropriate practices scheme, and promotes cloud computing connectivity standards across the different industry sectors and regions, which ultimately benefits the consumer and enterprise markets, as well as the Hong Kong economy," said HKCS' President Stephen Lau.
"Cloud computing comprises a broad scope of technologies. There is no single standard for cloud computing. Instead, 'cloud standards' should comprise self-regulatory rules for the industry to follow, technology standards, rules for conducting cloud pilot testing, and take into concern the potential laws and regulations in the future," Wong said. "These standards should deal with all three stacks of cloud computing: infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and most importantly, software-as-a-service."
"In the next few years, the Hong Kong government will progressively adopt cloud computing to provide e-government services. We hope that, through outsourcing, we can drive wider cloud adoption within the industry," said Daniel Lai, government CIO, OGCIO Hong Kong. "There has been new cloud computing associations set up in Hong Kong, which will help formulate standards and the best practices of cloud computing. I hope that the Alliance will collaborate and complement the work of the cloud expert group headed by OGCIO."
Key missions
Dr Hubert Chan, chairman of Communications Association of Hong Kong, said the Alliance members will in the next two to three weeks hold its first meeting to set up a working timetable, identify the priorities of the Alliance, and draft a budget. They will also propose to the OGCIO for funding, and invite sponsorships from service providers.
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"I hope that the Alliance will collaborate and complement the work of the cloud expert group headed by OGCIO."
-- Daniel Lai, Hong Kong government CIO |
Meanwhile, the Alliance members have laid down these key missions:
- Support the Hong Kong Office of Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) in standardizing cloud computing;
- Coordinate and facilitate local and regional collaboration on the research and development (R&D) of the interoperability standards for platform-as-a-service (PaaS), service standards, security and privacy policies and the best practices, which include "green" technologies cloud computing center operation;
- Participate in selected national projects that aim at developing cloud standards under OGCIO's leadership. These include interoperability standards and the definition of common PaaS features, such as cross user authentication, verifications on the authenticity and origins of electronic documents and messages, and common service invocation mechanism;
- Promote and facilitate the adoption of the necessary legal framework and government policies that are applicable to cloud computing center operation;
- Promote and support cloud services development, including consumer-based and enterprise-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications that run by these PaaS standards;
- Support and collaborate with different industries to promote cloud-based services adoption. Facilitate the development of common data that are used in these industry sectors;
- Support and collaborate with different industries on the design of standard message formats and constructs used in information exchanges and services invocation between these SaaS applications;
- Promote the connectivity standard to incorporate both consumer and enterprise requirements. Focus best practices on the internet and other types of connectivity like private network and mobile network;
- Promote and develop a set of best practice guidelines to facilitate cloud-based services load sharing, in the areas of workload interoperability, data conversion, systems migration and customer transfer; and
- Promote these standards to the software industry and user communities.
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